BYU men, women in front at MWC championships

Heading into the final day of competition at the Mountain West Conference track and field championships, things are essentially going according to script in San Diego.

Living up to the billing as favorite, Brigham Young University has opened up an early lead in both the men's and women's team races. BYU's women lead with 101 points, the highest point total ever entering the final day of competition, thanks in part to a change in the event schedule. Colorado State is riding in second with 64 points, and the University of Utah is fifth with 21.5 points.

The Cougar men are in a tighter battle, leading the pack with 69 points, with Air Force and CSU not far behind at 58 and 57 points, respectively. The meet will conclude today, with field events beginning at noon and track events starting at 12:30 p.m. PDT.

"The day ended up going about like we'd hoped," said Cougar men's coach Mark Robison. "We scored a couple points less than I thought we would, and Colorado State scored a few more than I thought they would. We've just got to keep doing what we know we can, and we should be fine."

While the majority of Friday's events were preliminaries, a number of field events and a pair of distance events on the track were scored Friday. BYU's men opened things strongly in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as Chandler Goodwin finished second, followed by Derek Taylor and Jacob Cosby in fourth and fifth. The Cougars also picked up points with senior Boian Marinov's second-place finish in the long jump and freshman Skyler McDonald's fifth-place finish in the javelin.

No event was bigger for BYU on Friday than the high jump, as the Cougars swept the top three spots with David Pendergrass, Bryce Bergen and Ammon Dahl. Pendergrass' first-place finish was his third straight conference title in the event.

For the women, BYU's distance crew dominated the steeplechase, taking the top four spots in the event. Sophomore Amy Fowler was first in a time of 10:26.09, and she was followed closely by Kassi Anderson, Katie Bowen and Tawny Bybee.

The Cougars notched 13 more points in the javelin, with Sarah Lancaster leading three BYU scorers in the event. Junior Ashley McCallister triumphed in the pole vault with a mark of 13 feet, 4.5 inches. Seniors Kelly Furr and Makenzie Iorg followed with second- and fifth-place finishes in the event.

One surprise came from sophomore Mindy Neeley, who placed second in the high jump in her first time ever competing in the event.